Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I've been reading vegan for life and skimming the section on kid nutrition. F is taking a Vitamin D spray supplement with me each day, but that's it so far. Wondering what others are doing for their little ones, and particularly what form supplements take for say the under 2s.

Ah, she does have a flax oil supplement most days, but we started it for poop troubles, not for the nutritive value per se.

The Emperor (3) takes a children's multivitamin. We started it around 18 months just because he was nursing a bit less. We got a vitamin that was 2 chewables per dose and gave him one a day on the advice of our pediatrician-- he says it's pointless to give a small child a whole vitamin because they can't absorb the whole thing anyway.

I give poopiebaby (2) a multivitamin as well. I also started him on it around 18 months when his nursing decreased (up until then I was still taking a prenatal mostly for his benefit). The dosage says 1 tablet for kids 2-4, and two tablets for 4 and up. I started them earlier with his pediatrician's blessing, knowing he was a good enough chewer and she felt he weighed enough for the dosage. He had his iron and vitamin D levels checked at his 2 year appointment and they were great, despite him not eating so well at times (usual picky toddler phases) so I feel pretty good about them.

These are the vitamins he takes: http://www.amazon.com/VegLife-Vegan-Mul ... B000POUIOE

Ada takes a powdered multivitamin that I mix in with her yogurt. She doesn't get it every day (because she doesn't always want yogurt) but I would say she at least gets it every other day. We started it around 15 months when her iron level came back a little low. I probably would have started them anyway soon after that. I tried the chewable ones that poopie mentioned but she wouldn't take them the last time I tried.

I should mention that at first, he wasn't a huge fan and it look a tiny bit of persuasion, but now he asks for it every day.

I did Abidec drops until the kids were old enough to do chewables (although you could just crush the powdery chewables and mix them into something). I basically only care that they get vitamins D and B12, especially now that Beetroot isn't breastfeeding and doesn't have a source of B12, other than fortified foods.

D and B12 are my primary concerns now too. Lots of toddlers seem to start nursing less once they really get moving, say 15 months or so, and then I'd wonder some about iron, calcium and particularly iodine. Reading VFL, they suggested a fluoride supplement as well (for over ones I think it is). There was a lack of text about the fluoride though..I'm assuming it's being suggested to improve dental health, but Ive not heard this recommendation before.

Our pediatricians recommended a (prescription) liquid multivitamin with iron and fluoride starting at 6 months. The fluoride is recommended here for all babies living in communities without fluoridated water. The multivitamin is recommended in general because kids are switching from mostly-milk to mostly-food in the 6-12 months range and they worry about iron, etc.

We decided to pass on the multi then because Malka was (and still is) getting almost all of her nutrition from formula and doing a double dose of vitamins seems like a bad idea to me. When we saw another pediatrician in the same group at 12 months and told her we hadn't started the multi and why and she said, well, of course, don't start until she's on mostly food.

However, at this point I would like to start the fluoride, so we have to figure out a source for just the fluoride, probably drops we can put in her bottles (they actually sell something called "nursery water" here, which is just bottled water with fluoride added). My husband has truly awful teeth - hopefully we can avoid some of that with better preventative care than he had.

Oh, we don't do a fluoride supplement because we brush the kids with fluoridated toothpaste-- our pediatrician thinks this is better for some reason I can't recall, and apparently they get a significant amount of fluoride from the toothpaste because they mostly swallow it.

Oh -- Iodine -- I try to give the kids seaweed or algae every once in a while. I read not to over do it, though.

I haven't really been worried about iron and calcium (although fortified foods are an easy answer -- the health visitors are really into telling people to give their kids fortified cereals and orange juice (for better iron absorption)), but my kids eat pretty dang well (I am so lucky -- Raygold is way pickier than Beety, who is not picky at all, but still eats better than a lot of kids, or so it seems).

Yeah, the powers that be here too are into supplementing with iron from 6 mos on, but Freya eats loads of protein/iron rich foods. Bit hit and miss on the calcium. I think I'd just used iodized salt for the Iodine, but I can't find it here anywhere. We got some for ourselves a couple of years ago when we were in Norway on holiday!

@c&s, do you use the fluoridated toothpaste on the Magician too? I was actually wondering about when to start that with F; we just brush with water now. Good teeth are not in her genes, I'm afraid though.

we did a chewable for most of the year, and then a gummy when we ran out of chewables (my mom got them and didn't realize it was gelatin) and now we've run out again and when i remember i will get more chewables. we did vit d all winter as well, and i will probably start that again pretty soon. i don't bother during the summer because it's easy for us to get our necessary sun time. not so much november-april.

We do-- I guess the research indicates that fluoride is most useful if started right when teeth erupt. Our drinking water isn't fluoridated (and he doesn't drink water anyhow) so we're not concerned with him getting too much at this point.

Hm, I should probably start thinking about fluoride. V doesn't drink much water, and what she does get tends to come from the water cooler (and a cursory googling indicates that this is not fluoridated). We do cook with tap water, which is fluoridated. V is using a fluoride-free baby toothpaste. The Dr. Sears recommendations say not to supplement for breastfed babies, but she's eating more solids now and, I assume, nursing less.

Does anyone have a fluoridated toothpaste they like for toddlers?

ADA recommendations regarding fluoride supplementation, for those interested: http://jada.ada.org/content/141/12/1480 ... nsion.html

We are not planning to give Carlos fluoride supplementation because he is low risk and our city water, supposedly, has enough fluoride. He doesn't have any teeth yet (even though he has been working on 1 for months), but he is so cute when I brush his gums. We did give him fluoride when he was a newborn because it was mixed with some other vitamins and we never got around to asking for one without. He was taking those because he was premature. I can't remember what was in them. I think vitamin D and maybe iron?

That link is so helpful! It's so frustrating that it's hard to get this kind of detailed information from pediatricians - grr. I know our town water is fluoridated, but there's always natural fluoride, and I feel like when I called the town about the amount it was around .3 ppm - will have to call again and ask which side of the line we fall on.

What makes someone low risk vs. high risk for cavities? Genetics? Socioeconomics? Diet? And I assume "strength of recommendation" is like in other issues - B means there's more evidence behind the recommendation than D, yes?

Socioeconomic status, diet, parent's oral health (not due to genetics, but due to bacteria which may be present in their mouths), and other stuff. Here's some more detailed information: http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guid ... ssment.pdf

You are right about the strength of the recommendations - here's their table on that: http://jada.ada.org/content/141/12/1480/T1.large.jpg

Thanks for all that info! I said to my husband last night that I needed to ask PPK's resident dentist for her input!

No problem. It's sometimes hard to figure out when to say something and went not to - I don't want to dominate everyone's conversations about stuff that's dental related, because you all have good stuff to say too.

You're the best kimba! I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and training!

Oh, and Ariann, regarding your frustration with getting that info from pediatricians, a lot of that is because they don't know. Dental education among physicians isn't that great - although I will say it is getting better.

It's unfortunately not just the dental stuff. I think doctors in general are hesitant to give complete information. It's frustrating because then you can't know why they're recommending what they're recommending.

Reffinej- since Freya likes the D spray and you are concerned about B12- there is also a B12 spray. Re: iodine- the Scandinavian perspective (from word of mouth! no medical professionals have mentioned it to us yet) is that if you live close enough to a coast, you get it in the air.

Map, that's a good idea about the B12 spray. I have never heard that about the sea air before, sounds a bit fishy (ba dum dum).

mapmapmap, that's the awesomest thing I've ever heard. I totally want that to be true because we would get so much iodine (we are right by the sea and I love to hang the futons and duvets out when it's a sunny day because they smell so fresh and sea sidey).